Drop Down Box & Macro

[Guest]

Hello,
I want to create a macro so that when I select a country from a drop down
box, then hidden data for the country appears. For example, I select
Argentina from the box, then data will appear on the population, econmic
info., etc. However, I can then choose Mexico from the box and the same data
appears for Mexico.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Dave Peterson]

You may not need a macro.

Say you have a table with all your info on it in sheet2--country name in column
A.

Then you could use a formula like:

=if(a1="","",vlookup(a1,sheet2!a:e,2,false))

You may want to read Debra Dalgleish's notes:
http://www.contextures.com/xlFunctions02.html

 

[Guest]

Hi Dave,
I forgot to mention, that there is a catch. The reason I say I need a
macro is that I want the data to be changeable & not from a list. Example:

My Drop Down Box has countries from A-Z. The categories are population, and
let's say internet penetration. Now, when I select Brazil, I input the
population and internet penetration, after I do that, then I go back to the
drop-down box and select China and input data for China. And I want to be
able to do this for whichever country I choose. Any ideas?

 

[Dave Peterson]

I think I would separate the functions into two pieces.

One would be updating the table. I'd do it directly in the second sheet. But
maybe you'd rather use Data|Form. And since the table is resizing, you could
use a dynamic name for the data|validation cell.

See Debra Dalgeish's site for some nice tips:
http://contextures.com/xlNames01.html#Dynamic

Then the second part would be using the =vlookup() formulas.